Postscript
by paperazzi
Summary: Set after Episode 5. (major spoilers) Chloe and Max take a deeper look at what their survival means in the aftermath. Pricefield. Fluff. #baeoverbay


_A/N: Its been a VERY long time since I've posted anything, but I've kind of fallen in lub with this strange little game and the ending was...well...wow. Lots to be said. Just wrote up this little ditty cause my muse was stroked. Hope you enjoy._

 _Listening to (what else) Obstacles - Syd Matters_

Max Caulfield stared out at the storm, squinting her eyes against the driving rain that had soaked her to the core. Maybe that's why she felt so cold inside. Maybe that was why she was shivering.

It certainly wasn't because of the warm hand held in her own. It might have been because of what she'd been through in the last few hours, but ripping that photo and letting it flutter into the wind was much easier than she thought it would be.

It certainly wasn't because she was heartless or cold. It might have been because of the blue eyes that stared back into her own, resigned to death, but spared. Spared by love, or desperation, or hope, she didn't know. maybe all three.

But if saving Chloe was as difficult as it had been, what might she endure trying to save four thousand others?

Kate, who Max was sure she had almost killed herself saving? or Victoria, or Nathan, or Mark Jefferson? Or Joyce Price?

Max looked up at the expression of grief on the taller girl's face. She had to realize what Max had condemned her mother to.

"Please dont hate me for this, Chloe," Max whispered.

The words never reached her, carried mercifully away by the raging wind before they could break her reverie.

When the storm broke, they still stood, pelted by the remaining smattering of rain, as if the universe couldn't quite admit they had bested it, and escaped the fate it had in store for them.

"We should-" Max began, but Chloe shook her head slowly.

"I dont think i could…."

Her voice broke, and Max's heart broke with it. She threw her arms around her childhood friend just as Chloe collapsed into the mud. Tears ran fast and free down her face as Max rubbed slow circles between her shoulders.

"Im responsible for…-"

"No," Max insisted, feeling her own throat tighten. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes but she willed them back, just a little longer. She had been strong for Chloe this long, she could do just a little more. "No, you look at me."

Chloe sniffled, tears still flowing, but obeyed, eyes desperate for...something. Inspiration? Love? Guilt? Max didn't know.

"Chloe, this isn't your fault. If anything it's mine, and I couldn't let you pay for my mistakes again." As soon as the words left her mouth, Max regretted them. Her right arm twitched involuntarily, as if ready to take them back, but she resisted the urge. Never again.

"And its fine if all of them do?!" Chloe asked, face twisting in pain as she gestured at the ruined town, barely visible without its lights or the moon to illuminate it.

"No, Chloe, I could have gone back again, but who could say if you're even right? That the universe wanted you to die somehow? We don't know that it would change anything, and i might lose you _again_. I can't...i don't know if i could fix it again, Chloe!"

Chloe nodded, accepting this and buried her face in Max's neck again, sobbing hard. "My mom, Kate, even David…"

This time she couldn't hold back and the tears started for Max, even as the last drops of rain petered off. "I can't lose you again, Chloe! You deserve a chance to be happy again!"

Chloe nodded, sniffling and pulled back just far enough to look at Max. "I love you, Max," she whispered. "Even if i suck sometimes, and make _really_ bad choices, its just me and you from now on."

"It always was," Max replied, letting a tiny smile tug her lip upward. Chloe leaned forward, just slightly and her eyes drifted shut. Max responded in kind and their lips met.

Tentative, soft, afraid, almost everything Chloe wasn't, but Max loved every bit, because it was _Chloe_ and she was _there._

They finally broke apart, and their eyes met, knowing their world was forever different, and no amount of time travel would undo what had just taken place.

A flame roared to life inside Max's chest, one that had been idly burning since childhood. Without knowing how, she felt its twin burst into existence inches away from her, and she knew at that moment that no matter how many times the Universe would attempt to take Chloe from her, she would fight until her dying breath to deny it.

"I love you so much," Max whispered.

Chloe smiled now, ever so briefly. "I know. Come on. No use saving me if we die out here."

So they stood, shivering now from the cold and the wind and the rain, and walked, hand in hand, toward the road where Chloe had left her truck.

By some miracle it was intact, though trees had fallen all around it. Chloe dug under the seat and produced a blanket they huddled together beneath, letting the engine run to warm them. Max's head fell to rest on Chloe's shoulder and the bluenette placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "My hero," she whispered softly.

Max nodded, exhausted from the strain she'd put her body and mind through and the grief of an event that didn't yet seem real to her. she half expected to snap to consciousness in Mr Jefferson's monday afternoon lecture yet again. her hand reached across Chloe's lap under the blanket and grabbed as much of the fabric there as she could hold.

"I won't let anything hurt you, i swear," she whispered. The promise she had made when William died, that she broke without a thought.

The promise she had made upon her return to Arcadia Bay. The promise she had kept at all costs.

When Max's eyes opened again, glare from the morning sun nearly blinded her. They were moving, driving east. Her eyes turned expectantly toward Chloe, but almost immediately, fell away. Blood coated her hands and some of her arm, heavily smeared, as if she'd tried to clean it and failed miserably. the brunette's eyes were puffy and red and tears smudged her face and what little makeup she wore.

Knowing what must have occurred, Max kept silent, noting that the morning sun in her eyes meant they were driving eastward. Away from Arcadia. Away from death and sadness.

She rolled her window down, taking in the destruction wrought by the storm. the lives ruined and ended both, homes and families destroyed. The town would never recover. That much was clear.

The weight of that thought began to press on Max's chest and her breathing shortened. Chloe's hand came to rest on her shoulder, reassuring and warm, but Max recoiled.

Belatedly, Chloe realized why, and grimaced, pulling her blood-stained hand back. Max didn't dwell on the irony of being comforted by a hand covered by blood that was rightfully on _hers_.

"You probably don't want to hear this right now, but i can't...i have to..." Chloe began. "She's gone. Mom's gone, Max." Her lips trembled softly as she fought back a fresh wave of grief. "I don't know what to do Max, or where to go…."

Max opened her mouth to reply, but realized no words could comfort a girl who had now lost everything meaningful in her life. _Everything except me. I'm all she has. My parents are fine in Seattle, but now she's lost William and Joyce. And David._

Belatedly, Max realized the guilt she felt now would never go away, that she would feel that the rest of her life. She leaned out of the window as the contents of her stomach emptied themselves on the pavement.

Chloe slammed the brakes, reaching over to rub the small of her back.

"Im fine," Max lied, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "Its probably all the drugs from yesterday or something…"

Chloe frowned, a troubled expression crossing her face as Max leaned back into the car. She put it back in gear, pulling forward before speaking. "Max, those drugs….that didn't happen to you in this timeline…You've been with me since the party. I wouldn't let you out of my sight."

"...oh," the brunette replied in a soft voice.

And they were silent for a while.

When they passed the wreckage of Blackwell, Max looked away, not wanting to think of all the friends that were missing or injured right now. She was fairly certain that Warren was in the diner with Joyce. He wouldn't have survived.

After what seemed like hours to them both, they finally saw the sign.

Blue and cheery and unmarred and matter of fact.

Another Great Day in Arcadia Bay, it declared.

 _Thank You, Come Again_

"How about never," she muttered.

"Agreed," Chloe replied, reading her mind. She put her foot to the floor as the exited the town, squealing the tires briefly, and held it there, feeling the rush of wind and adrenaline as the old truck went faster and faster.

Max looked over nervously to see Chloe gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles and a look halfway between intense concentration and downright agony on her face.

 _She needs this,_ Max told herself, _to run as fast as she can and not look back._

She looked ahead, seeing a beautiful, pale, almost ghostly doe standing by the road ahead. Its edges blurred as they sped past and when Max craned her neck to look back, it was already gone.

"Goodbye, Rachel," she whispered into the wind. "I'll take care of her. I promise."

A promise she would keep.


End file.
